Tarika James, M.D., a board certified Family Physician was appointed as Medical Director in January 2014. She earned her Bachelors of Science degree in Biology from Ursinus College, doctoral training at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and completed her residency training at the JFK Medical Center Family Practice Residency where she served as a chief resident.

Prior to coming to NUMC, she served Associate Medical Director of an FQHC called Brownsville Multiservice Family Health Centers where she served for 7 yrs. During her time at BMS she created a paradigm shift by instituting an open access model for appointment scheduling and healthcare delivery which helped to increased utilization by 30% over a 2 year period and cut patient visit cycle times in half.

When she arrived at Long Island FQHC in January 2014, she immediately assumed the role of revamping clinical practice at the health centers in order to attain Patient Centered Medical Home level 3 as of May of 2014. She has worked with the clinical and operations leadership to improve and expand health care open access, create the clinical policy and procedure manual, and currently chairs the Continuous Quality Improvement Committee of the LIFQHC which monitor all quality activities for the organization. She strives to improve and the health delivery system by provide preventative care and high quality chronic disease management to patients. Some of her professional affiliations include the National Health Service Corps Scholar, and the American Academy of Family Physicians.